Democratic Awakening Needed: Cornel West Speaks About Politics

Dilshanie Perera

The political ice age is beginning to melt, observed scholar and Princeton University professor Cornel West during his talk at the Witherspoon Presbyterian Church last week. He characterizes the political ice age as the highest level of political indifference, or to be well-adjusted to injustice.

Indifference to evil is more invidious than evil itself, Mr. West intoned while cautioning, Indifference is the essence of inhumanity.

Present-day politics has seen greed run amok, according to Mr. West, who noted that we are feeling its effects in the catastrophe of our financial markets due to obscene wealth extraction and a greed borne out of a culture of indifference.

For the last 40 years, the politics of fear has been predicated on the southern strategy, but that southern strategy is coming to an end, Mr. West acknowledged, saying this is a historic moment.

What we need before and after the election is a democratic awakening, Mr. West said. The question becomes, he added, what are we going to do? He offered becoming Socratic by way of an answer, since, pace Plato, the unexamined life is not worth living, and in doing so he challenged the audience to confront the most terrifying question: what does it mean to be human?

Its not just a question of your vote, its a question of your voice, asserted Mr. West, asking, What kind of human being will you choose to be?

Urging the people assembled to look into history in order to inform their views of the present, Mr. West said that the black freedom struggle is so crucial to the development of democracy. Even 400 years ago, the question of the slave was: how do I preserve my humanity, my dignity?

Speaking of the history of American terrorism, Mr. West cited the brutal practices of the Jim Crow South as an example, firmly declaring, Thats not segregation; thats terrorism.

It is an instance of taking a people who have been citizens, and transforming them into subjects and according to Mr. West, it has to do with life and death  not just physical, but psychic and spiritual.

The wounds are deeply historical, but for the political and social process to work, in a democracy, you have to muster the courage to never forget, but also the courage to forgive, Mr. West asserted.

The best of the blues people have been able to unflinchingly confront catastrophe and endure it with grace and dignity, Mr. West said, quoting Emmett Tills mother, I dont have a minute to hate; Ill pursue justice for the rest of my life.

A professed supporter of Senator Barack Obama, Mr. West joked that if brother Barack wins, Im going to breakdance that night, adding in a more serious tone, but the next morning, Ill be a major critic. Mr. West has criticized Mr. Obama for not discussing race earlier in his campaign, and noted the absence of Martin Luther King, Jr. from Mr. Obamas addresses until the Democratic National Convention in August.

Its never just a question of phenotype; black folk have been voting for progressive white brothers and sisters for decades, Mr. West said, asking, What makes [the situation] post-racial now that the reverse is true?

You can stay in contact with his humanity without having his color disappear, noted Mr. West, regarding Sen. Obama.

While the American past may have an ambiguous legacy, with both democratic possibilities and barbaric possibilities, Mr. West proclaimed that history does not change with one election.

Nonetheless, the difference between leadership and great leadership is the same as the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat, Mr. West announced: A thermometer just reflects whats out there, but a thermostat shapes the climate.